How did you get on?

[theartist]

Just spent a couple of hours down the canal, figuring it would be better to sit under a shady tree than sweat at home.It was proper hot walking back just now though. Also proper hot was the young lady walking her dog in hotpants, if only I was 20 years younger and 200% better looking I thought to myself. I also thought it weird that her dog was wearing hotpants

Fishing was the usual canal fare of bits and pieces with the odd netter perch and skimmer and I was getting more bites close in under the rod tip. The first hour was great but it then went dead completely yet I was confident my old maggots wasn't the reason, it does go dead on the canal sometimes.

With just a handful of maggots left I slipped the float off and whacked on a matchstick for some more experimenting, I was already fishing on the drop before so I was at bit surprised how effective this was a getting bleak, I must have caught or bumped off around twenty in no time at all. More importantly I got through to some decent roach and perch only around three of each but I'd caught more in the last twenty minutes than I had in the previous hour and fun it was too. It was clear the swim wasn't dead rather my loosefeed wasn't getting through the bleak and the other fish were competing with them.

Watching the matchstick sink slowly on a coloured canal is a lot harder than on a clear river and suffice to say I was fishing close in, it worked though and it showed the fish were still there and just up in the water. I packed up after getting a really fat perch that was well over a pound probably closer to two that put up a right old scrap.



Ps just noticed the annoying leaf in the photo

 

[108831]

Just to bring some normality in crucian fishing,I went yesterday,had ten to a pound and a half,four French tench(poxy tablet) and four roach,before the heat killed it,I packed at 2pmish,parboiled,sweated buckets walking the shortish walk back to the car,as I drove off the car showed 32.5degs,that's me till it cools a bit...

 

[bullet]

First trip of the year to the Wye last weekend.
I'm new to Barbel fishing and I've caught quite a few on the bomb, but was very keen to give the float and pin a go.
Started off with the bomb initially, but after a couple of fruitless hours in the funny coloured water, decided to take a wander.
Found a bit of faster water which looked promising, so fed some small pieces of meat and hemp for a while, then started running through with a piece of meat on the hook.
Nothing for half an hour, and i was starting to lose heart, then that lovely nodding of a hooked fish!
Once I'd got one, it really kicked off and i ended up with 7 nice Barbel in a couple of hours, all to trotted meat.

 

[mikench]

half,four French tench(poxy tablet)

I can't even catch ordinary tench and you catch french ones Alan! Sacré bleu!

 

[108831]

Only on my tablet Mike,it turns tench into French,it did when I just wrote tench and again,grrr.

 

[sam vimes]

Went to my syndicate lake last night searching for the ever elusive roach and rudd. Failed miserably to find anything but small perch until a bit of fizzing in the margins tempted me to change tack. That ended up being rather frustrating right until last light. The float dipped very slightly and slowly moved sideways. The strike resulted in several swirls in the fairly shallow water (for a water that averages about 17') and a very fast, powerful run. I wasn't sure what I'd latched into for a while. I began to suspect one of the smaller resident carp until I saw a small rounded dorsal. It looked an absolute lump and went like a train. Sadly, it came up slightly short in my quest for a 6lb+ from this water. However, 5lb 15oz is my best yet and I certainly wasn't disappointed with it. The 17' Acolyte coped surprisingly well with it and is still in the normal three parts.

 

[nottskev]

There are films where someone tries to go home for Christmas but is balked at every turn, or tries to leave a small town only to be sucked back in. Trying to go fishing on Wednesday evening was a bit like that.

I'd had a recce on the little river nearby - on a more even keel these days after decades of total pollution - and it looked too nice not to fish it, despite the scarcity of fish, clear water and abundant weed. After a bit of a walk following them downstream, a few chub had guzzled the bits of crust I threw in, so I set off at about 5pm with a bag of crusts and a few slices of bread.




When I got to the bridge where you park, roadworks had closed off the old gateway that's the only place to leave a car, and the temporary lights caused queues both sides, so you'd block the road if you parked on it. After dithering a bit, I headed off to the next access a few miles downstream. A mile from the river, I found the road closed and no diversion signs. I turned back and picked my way through some unknown suburbia and finally got to the river. There's one viable swim near a footbridge, and next to the bridge a little swarm of shaven-headed, swearing, scuffling 9 or 10 year old feral sprogs. You fishin' here mate? Too right I wasn't, and to make things worse, a glance at the water showed that it must have rained heavily somewhere, as the clear low stream of the night before was several inches up and very coloured.

Back to the roadworks and take a chance I'd find somewhere to park? It's that or give up. But I wouldn't be catching anything on floating crust. Since I was as near to home as I was to the bridge, I called in, put the crusts in the freezer and picked up a tub of flavoured punched meat bits. Back at the bridge, I squeezed the car in a tight spot and walked to the river. Which looked miraculously clear by comparison. Huh?
A couple of casts in two swims that proved pretty solid with weed showed it was going to be hard to catch anything on the bottom, so I sat down in a swim I'd walked past numerous times. Deep water on a bend, my bank shored up with big rocks, trees opposite and a tree in the water above and below, sandwiched between fast shallows. As I sat there, it dawned on me that fate might have led me to the home of one of this little river's precious few barbel - survivors of a stocking years ago. That would make the run-around all worthwhile.

Just then the tip pulled round and out came this carnivorous little perch.



No more bites from my barbel swim, and after harvesting some weed from a couple of other spots, I called it a day. At least the car hadn't been clamped, towed or broken into.

 

[mikench]

The effort you had to put in Kev.

 

[peter crabtree]

Against my better judgement I turned up at the GUC near Tring this morning. I was surprised to find no less than 8 codgers, gear unpacked and raring to go..
The plan had been to fish another club's (Luton AC) water which involved a longish walk.
As organiser I tried to persuade them to fish our bit which is right by the carpark. No! They were having none of it. So off we set up the towpath..
There was no shady trees to fish under, just open to the heavens towpath..
I needn't elaborate on how hot it was but luckily there was a stiff breeze which made it almost bearable.
5 gruelling hours later I had caught a fair few skimmers, perch, gudgeon and roach mainly on red maggot. I was surprised to even get a bite to be honest.
Last to be weighed in I had 4lb:11:0, not enough to frame however.
The winner had 21lb of bream from the pound above, all on waggler and corn, with the runner up having 12lb:11:0.
I forgot my phone so no pics I'm afraid.

 

[nottskev]

I had unfinished business involving a small river and a bag of crusts. I assumed the plug of storm water would have gone through and I knew where to park now, so I nipped out at 7.30pm to see if I could catch a chub off the surface - one of those John Wilson-type things I'd never tried. I thought it might be a way to catch in swims that look like this




I chucked out a couple of bits of crust, prepared to watch them go downstream, and I was surprised to see them taken before they'd gone down a yard!




After a few more freebies, I put a piece on the hook, which got about 2' down the swim before this took it




But catching chub number two was a different matter. If you get carp in a commercial taking baits like dog biscuit or crust off the top, you can catch a load of them quite easily. After I'd caught this chub, no further free offerings were taken in this swim, and when I dropped crusts in the stretches above and below, there was not a single sign of interest.
Whatever the chub grapevine is, it clearly works well, and these wild fish are quick to back off.

Anyway, I'd caught my chub so I could go home and have a cold beer. As I came back from a crust-feeding wander to pick up my gear and go, I found two young men, early twenties, standing in the water up to their waists just below where I'd been fishing. They hadn't seen the gear on the bank, and apologised for spoiling the swim, but I was happy to reassure them it was game over anyway, and asked if they'd mind walking around a bit to plumb up - with surprising results, as they found a 4' hole in a swim I thought was no deeper than 2'. It turned out they did a bit of fishing themselves, liked this little river and had biked a few miles to come up and cool off in the water. As we sat on the bank chatting, a dog walker came and joined us, and it seems he'd fished this little river all his life, and told us a few places worth trying. This type of thing restores your faith in human nature, even if you only catch one fish.

 

[103841]

Look similar to my stretch of the Stour Kev and I’m convinced the chub can be spooked for days let alone a few hours.

Yet to catch one off the top on bread but have had success with a lobworm off the top injected with a bit of air for extra buoyancy, doesn’t attract the gulls and ducks either.

 

[Another Dave]

My kind of stuff Kev, lovely fish there too.

I went out again on Wednesday and fished my old parrotcage swim for the first time this year. The overhanging branch has slumped down, making things a little awkward but boy was it swarming with chub. No other species visible whatsoever. I fluffed 2 or 3 takes then the chub sounded the alert. Hey ho.

I usually only get the odd stolen hour to spend with my rivery mistress so the odd hit and run suits me fine, but when do i have the luxury of time what i like to do is try for a chub then see what else i can tempt. Perch are much less fussed about this kind of thing and trout are even more sporting about it.

Hopefully out again on Tuesday with my fishing mate, will have another crack at it with a shorter rod and report back.

 

[108831]

I often found that when chub spooked from crust after catching,a lump of slow sinking flake would be accepted,worth a go,even though not guaranteed success,you probably tried it Kev...

 

[Ray Roberts]

Yesterday was my birthday, a day off work to celebrate it saw me down a club lake near Bough Beech in Kent. The plan was to float fish until the afternoon then fish on top for carp. It’s a great feeling when a plan comes together. I had a few net worthy roach and ide along with just over thirty crucian carp, which was good, not so good was snapping about a foot off of the tip of my Acolyte Plus. This is the second breakage. It previously snapped about 10mm from the tip. Strange that I caught over forty fish in this particular trip and it broke when I was landing a crucian about the pound mark. I had other float rods with me but being a bit peed off I tried for some carp off of the top. They didn’t seem too impressed. I didn’t know if it was the high temperature or they didn’t like the bait drifting. I swapped over to anchored crust and had four. They ranged from 15lb 8oz to almost 18lb. Not a bad days fishing in those conditions.

Stopped off at the nearest pub on the way back, £7.10 for a pint of lager and a packet of crisps! That hurt almost as much as the broken rod!


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[Ray Roberts]

Quoted my own post, fool that I am.

 

[john step]

A family day fishing on Weds with 3 grandaughters who at 12 and 14 are now overtaking me in height rapidly.
I am 6.2"!!
A holiday complex in Bedfordshire. A great place to take kids. Camping, lodges etc. Extremely well run and clean.
The ice creams are not too expensive either!!

HENLOW BRIDGE LAKES.

Just whips and pellets/bread. Lots of rudd/roach small carp plus one tiny tench. A great day in the sunshine.

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[108831]

Not a million miles away from me,that,never fished it,it's nearer to Arlesey isn't it?

 

[mikench]

You could bomb over there Alan.

 

[108831]

Nah,don't think so...

 

[rich66]

After yesterday’s heat wave, and 4 hours sleep I met up with my brother at Frisby. While waiting for him to arrive I spotted a bunch of carp on the top, quick tackle up and a dog biscuit on the line. I’ve not got a bubble float etc so used a loaded crystal waggler to get my bait out, flicked a few freebies in and 2nd cast hit into a nice carp. I’d timed it right as my brother just turned up. The carp put a decent fight up on my match rod and 6lb line, thought I’d have another bash before we sat down. My bait had just hit the water and another carp took it. Just no stopping this once my clutch was giving line. Left, right it went & then the ****** came straight at me as I raised my rod to take in the slack it shot left straight into some weed and proceeded to get its head down and tail up. Created a huge load of splashing like an outboard and the inevitable happened .. line snapped.
After that we decided on pegs had a natter and got on with the business of catching fish or should I say big brother did. I had 2 bream after that and 2 snap offs. I’ve sat on my chair and managed to crack the screen of my phone against one of the nuts.
My brother managed 7 carp and a few bits and broke his landing net pole, I lent him mine as not much was going on in my swim part from feeding two clutches of coots that arrived and scoffed everything I put in with great gusto. Packing up I managed to put a size 12 through the back of my finger!
So an eventful and frustrating day for me. Tomorrow’s job is to clear out my tackle bag of bits of line and hooks etc trying not to impale myself or one of my nosey moggies on loose hook lengths etc.